Regular readers of the RDA Journal will remember Gareth Thomas’s impressive project to visit and write about all 40+ of the Deben Churches. To be fair, he had no idea at the beginning of his project that there would be so many…
Gareth’s main purpose was to share his enjoyment with others and to remind people what architectural and historical gems lie tucked away, often in small villages from which the earlier congregations have moved away. But how should people reach them? Some of the walks on this site are designed to link two or three churches together — but what about cycling (or long distance running?)
We asked keen cyclist Digby Thorogood to devise a route that linked these churches. He divided them slightly differently from Gareth (and skipped a couple) but produced a set of four cycle rides which can be enjoyed separately or as one long day’s pedalling (depending on the availability of Bawdsey ferry).
Churches of the Deben: Part 1
Gareth’s first group includes St Mary of Grace Aspall, URC Debenham, St Mary Magdalene Debenham, St Peter’s Cretingham All Saints Church Brandeston.
Aspall Church
Crossing the Deben at Cretingham
Jack Thorogood at Cretingham, testing route 1
Crossing the Deben at Kettleburgh
DigbyThorogood at Bromeswell church
Churches of the Deben: Part 2
His second group includes St Andrew & St Eustachius Hoo, St Andrew’s Kettleburgh, St Mary’s Letheringham, All Saints’ Church Easton, All Saints’ Church Wickham Market, St Gregory the Great Rendlesham. All Saints’ Church Eyke, St Mary of the Assumption Ufford , Melton Old Church, St Edmund’s Bromeswell
Churches of the Deben – Part 2
Cycle Routes
Digby includes 37 churches in all. He bypasses one or two of Gareth’s choices but includes others (eg the Trimley churches) about which Gareth was uncertain (or exhausted!).
Route 1 – GREEN
Digby’s first route runs from Aspall to Easton. It’s 15.84 km and includes 6 churches.
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/25426472/-deben-churches-cycle-route-1
Route 2 – YELLOW
His second from Kettleburgh either to Ufford – if continuing to route 3b or to Bromeswell for route 3a. This route is shorter, just 11.44 km. However, there are 9 churches on this route.
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/25426491/-deben-churches-cycle-route-2
Digby and his father cycled these two routes together, crossing the Deben several times and passing (or visiting) about 15 churches
Digby offers alternative finish points for route 2 depending where the cyclist wants to go next. It is possible to do a big circuit of the tidal Deben, but only if the Bawdsey ferry is running.
RDA Committee member Anna-Marie Sellon and her friend Lyn Gameson also volunteered to test route 2. Here are her comments.
It was a lovely route and we visited a super collection of churches and took plenty of pictures. It was a gorgeous blue sky day – and we have a bit of feedback for you below from having completed it. We had to make the decision not to nip down the road and visit Bromeswell as the app drained my phone’s battery terribly, so we were running on fumes by that point! And since it was on our way home, we ended at Melton church as it was on the way home for us from the route’s official end point at Melton Old Church.
1. Kettleborough church – access isn’t very obvious: one has to go straight across a private house’s driveway then follow a track around the back of the houses to access the church.
2. Letheringham church – the route as posted on the OS app took us into a (private) farm yard (Abbey Farm) from where a none-too-friendly woman appeared very quickly to shoo us off. The correct route to access the church is further along the road, turning right along the lane/track that passes uphill and behind the farm.
Access to all of the other churches was pretty obvious. Most were open and several had info leaflets for sale (many had contactless payment stations).
Access to coffee shops/food en route was limited. We stopped at the Co-Op in Wickham Market for sandwiches and drinks, but there aren’t many options unless the pub at Kettleborough or Easton might appeal to riders. Didn’t spot a single public loo, but we weren’t looking too closely.
Finally, again, I’m afraid the OS app received a very poor assessment from us: it isn’t bike-friendly and the app also doesn’t prevent the phone’s screen from going off so it goes blank while cycling which isn’t helpful when you need to see your route. Here’s my record of the ride from Komoot, which I’d suggest may be a better option for people who need clear navigation.
Route 3A – RED
Gareth sets off down the eastern bank of the river visiting All Saints’ Church Sutton, St Margaret of Antioch Shottisham, All Saints Church Ramsholt, St Andrew’s Church Alderton, St Mary the Virgin Bawdsey.
Churches of the Deben: Part 3A
Digby compiles these into a relatively short ride 8.36km with just five churches.
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/25426585/deben-churches-cycle-route-3a
Anna-Marie Sellon and Lyn Gameson rode this route in April – they loved the route and the churches but didn’t like the free version of the OS map
We rode cycle route 3A since we could cycle to the start at Sutton from Woodbridge and could be collected from Bawdsey by a friend with a bike rack. It was a lovely ride and we enjoyed brief visits to all 5 churches en route – each very different but Ramsholt looking the prettiest with all the daffodils. We were cold & wet by the time we reached Bawdsey so hurried home to warm up!
It is a lovely ride and an easy route, which was good since we found the OS app’s so-called navigation to be somewhat lacking. Anyone used to following Google or Apple Maps’ turn-by-turn directions might be underwhelmed by the OS app’s small red arrow overlaid on a 2-D map. I found the orientation of the map unhelpful – rather than orienting the map so that it faced the direction we were cycling in, it remained with N at the top of the screen which meant a left turn appeared right on the screen, for example. It was much more like following a paper OS map
All Saints’ Church Sutton
St Margaret of Antioch Shottisham
All Saints Church Ramsholt
St Andrew’s Church Alderton
St Mary the Virgin Bawdsey
Collection at Bawdsey by fellow-cyclist Jane Haviland
Anna-Marie Sellon and Lyn Gameson
Route 3B – BLUE
Gareth went back to Wilford Bridge to commence his final group of churches. These are St Andrews Melton, the Quay Baptist Church Woodbridge, St Mary the Virgin Woodbridge, St Johns Church Woodbridge, St Thomas’s Roman Catholic Church Woodbridge, Methodist Church Woodbridge, St Mary’s Martlesham, All Saints’ Waldringfield, Waldringfield Heath Baptist Church, All Saints’ Hemley, St Mary’s Newbourne, St John’s Brightwell, St Ethelbert’s Falkenham, St Mary’s Walton, St Peter & Paul Old Felixstowe, St Nicholas Felixstowe Ferry.
Churches of the Deben: Part 3B
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/25426677/-deben-churches-cycle-route-3b
This was the big one, completed by the indefatigable Anna-Marie on a lovely summer Sunday. Here are her comments:
I completed the ride this morning, setting off from Melton at 5.45 which worked perfectly – quiet roads and bright conditions but not too hot.
I tracked my ride on my Garmin watch from which I can export a GPX file – attached – and I’ve also made it into a Google Map that people can view (although apparently not use for turn-by turn directions, annoyingly).
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1wvtMksJwbzN0imq5M3Wpk61HlW1vzZc&usp=sharing
I think I was pretty faithful to the route on the OS app – but I know I visited the Waldringfield churches in reverse order simply because I cycled past the Waldringfield Heath one en route to the ‘main’ one at Waldringfield.
Then later on, after Falkenham, I was offered a route along a bridleway – Dog Lane (found because it was next to a property called ‘Dog Cottage’) that took me across some beautifully planted fields before landing in Trimley.
A few things to note:
Once outside Woodbridge, no obvious facilities to use (Martlesham has an outside loo but it’s often locked outside service times) until one reaches the public loo at Felixstowe Ferry.
Depending on the day/time, food/drink options are really limited to pubs in several villages & cafes in Newbourne/Felixstowe Ferry.
Road surfaces are pretty rough in many places along the route – a hybrid/gravel bike with sturdy/medium tyres) would be better than a road bike with very thin tyres.
In all, I took a little over 2 hours to complete the route one way – but I literally jumped off my bike, took a picture of each church then leaped back on again. If people wanted to take time to explore the churches, it’d easily take 2/3 times that.
Coming home, I was sent by Google along a rather lovely route from the Ferry to Gulpher & Candlet Track (which is a gravel track running parallel to the A14 that allows one to stay east of the main road) and then back to Woodbridge via Kirton/Brightwell/Martlesham. That return route took me an hour exactly going at a decent clip.
I know this route was designed so it could be combined with the ride along the peninsula, but the ferry wasn’t running at 8am on a Sunday so I took this alternative option.
(She was seen out on the river kayaking later that day!)
St Andrews, Melton
St Johns Church, Woodbridge
St Mary the Virgin, Woodbridge
St Mary’s, Martlesham
Waldringfield Heath Baptist church
All Saints’, Waldringfield
All Saints’, Waldringfield
St John’s, Brightwell
Brightwell-Newbourne Road
St Mary’s, Newbourne
All Saints’ Hemley
St Mary and St Martin, Kirton
St Ethelbert’s, Falkenham
Bridleway Falkenham-Trimley
St Martin’s, Trimley St Mary
St Mary’s, Trimley St Mary
NB St Mary’s is now an Arts Centre but I am reliably informed that you CAN see the Deben from the top of the tower at St Martin’s JJ
St Mary’s, Walton
Trimley Parish Hall
St Peter & Paul, Old Felixstowe
The editor will be very interested to hear from other explorers who have found ways to link these historic landmarks together — on foot, on horseback — or on the water even… – [email protected]